Airplane



A. MARIAN] Oct. 11, 1932.

AIRPLANE Filed May 23. 1951 gwuento o Patented Oct. 11, 1932 ITED STATES ALFONSO MARIANI, OF ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA AIRPLANE Application filed, May 23, 1931. Serial No. 539,601.;

An object of my invention is to provide or so construct an airplane that its direction of flight may be easily and certainly controlled and in particular so that the minimum of starting off or landing space maybe required,

this last named condition or requirement being attained or fulfilled by vertical ascent or descent in taking off and in landing. 1 prefer to embody my invention in an airplane of standard or typical construction equipped with the usual motor or motors for onward propulsion which I do by providing or equipping it with a number of symmetrically located propeller motors mounted for adjustment to change the direction of the propeller axes so that the pull of the propellers may be at any desired angle vertically or longitudinally of the fuselage. The supplemental or control propellers may be used to contribute to the onward flight of the plane when the main propeller is operating and in emergencies they could be used alone, should the main motor or propeller be out of order. The supplemental motors may be gas engines or electric motors and their control and adjustment may be individual or separate or 001- lective and may be by mechanical or electrical devices.

My inventionconsists in whatever is described by or is included within the terms or scope of the appended claims. 7

In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a top plan view of an airplane embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof with parts of the fuselage shown broken away to better illustrate the construction, and

Fig. 3 is an end view of the bridge supporting the supplemental propeller motors.

The airplane shown in the drawing as one embodiment of my invention is of usual or standard construction in that it has a fuse lage 10, wings 11, and motor, 12, with its propeller. There are four symmetrically placed supplemental motors, 13, each with its propeller, two of which are forward and suspended from the underside of the wings near their outer ends and two at the rear or towards the tail mounted upon the upper side of a skeleton bridge, 14, that extends transversely of the fuselage. The supplemental I motor in each case is mounted or hung ina frame 15, securely fastened to the wings,".jor the bridge, as the case maybe, by horizontal pivots, 15a that provide a transverse axis on which the motor may be swung vertically to change the angle or direction of the propeller axisv which extends longitudinally of the planethat is, fore and aft. Thus each sup plemental motor may be swung on a horizontal axis so' that the propeller axis may occupy any desired angle vertically or up and down in a plane parallel with the longitudinal axis of the airplane. The illustration in' the drawing of the supplemental. motors is conventional and may be regarded as an illustration of a gas engine or an electric motor; .It will be seen that with all-the supplemental motors swung so that their propeller axes extend vertically and without the main motor in operation, the direction of flightof the airplane may be straight up and down or vertical and thus in taking off the plane may rise directly from the ground and in landing it may come directly to the ground. And by giving other directions or angles to the propeller axes, the direction of flight of the airplane may be easily, quickly and powerfully controlled.

Preferably all of the supplemental motors 3 are under one control so that simultaneously the angle of their propeller axes may be adjusted or changed. For this purpose in the pilots cabin, an operating lever, 17 pivoted to swing back and forth is connected by suitable lever, pinions and/or gear connections with each of thesupplemental motors so that by the operation of that single lever, all of the supplemental motors may be adjusted or shifted to the position desired to secure a particular direction of travel or movement of the plane. Simply as a conventional illustration of operating means the lever, 17, may be connected to a shaft, 18, journalled in bearings on the underside of the wings and extending from the lever to the two'supplemental motors; and a similar shaft, 21, hav ing a link connection 22, with the operating lever 17'is mounted in bearings on the bridge and by a rack segment, 23, and pinion, 24,

V is connected with each of the bridge-supported supplemental motors.

What I claim is i r 1. An airplane having a main motor and a fuselage and a plurality of supplemental motors mounted for changing the direction of the axes of their propellers and means to shift the direction of such axes common to l 1 all of the supplemental motors and a bridge transverse of the fuselage and supported at midlength thereby on which said supplemental motors are carried in balanced relation, saidshifting means including a shaft crosswise of the bridge operatively connected with the bridge motors and a central shaft connected with and reaching. from said transverse shaft to the pilots cabin.

- 2. .An airplane having a main motor and a plurality of supplemental motors mounted for changing the direction of the axes of their-{propellers and means to shift the direction of' such axes, said supplemental motors being distributed symmetrically of the airplane and at least some of them being suspended from the plane wings, a transverse bridge in rear of the wings and other supplemental motors being mounted" on said bridge, said bridge being iinmovably mount ed on the fuselage and the supplemental motors being mounted on the bridge for bodily movement on the bridgeto shift-the di- 9 rection' of their propeller axes.

' signature.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix 

